


and sometimes that's enough

by bumblingbees



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Aborted Undertale Genocide Run, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Anxiety, Attempted Undertale Genocide Run, Chara Has Their Own Body, Chara Is Their Own Warning, Chara and Frisk Share a Body, Everyone Has Issues, F/F, F/M, Frisk Has Issues, Frisk Uses Sign Language, Frisk is a Sweetheart, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mental Health Issues, Minor Sans/Toriel, Nonbinary Chara and Frisk, Parent Toriel (Undertale), Past Rape/Non-con, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route - "I want to stay with you.", Reader is Frisk (Undertale), References to Undertale Genocide Route, Selectively Mute Frisk, Separation Anxiety, Soft Chara, This is a happy story I swear, it's just got some dark shit in it we gotta power thru, we must protect the children at all costs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-06-15 04:59:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15405498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bumblingbees/pseuds/bumblingbees
Summary: Soon, you too melt into the trembling embrace of two grieving parents reunited with their long lost child.You squeeze Their hand. They squeeze back.You decide that it’s enough.(in which a pair of determined children work together to get their brother back)





	and sometimes that's enough

You feel the absence of your Partner like a fever. 

Chills sweep over your body as fatigue sets in. Your muscles and joints cry out in pain. You shake and splutter and there is a pounding behind your eyes that you don’t recognize. You have been so used to sharing feelings, thoughts,  _ everything  _ that a headache of your own seems foreign and strange. 

The fever settles as quickly as it begun. A bubble of hope swells in your chest. Did it work? You cross your fingers, your legs, your eyes, anything and everything you have. You feel the absence of your Partner like a premonition. 

And then… 

And then you feel the presence of your Partner like the buzzing of a beehive. 

* * *

 

Here is a story you’re familiar with. It goes like this. 

Once Upon a Time a child climbed a mountain. Once Upon a Time a child fell into that mountain. 

Once Upon a Time said child woke up inside of the mountain. 

They weren’t alone. 

* * *

 

They’re not here with you. You know that for certain. Before, holding onto your Partner was like grasping at smoke. They slipped and coiled up through your fingers whenever you got close. They scolded and chided whenever you suggested “something as idiotic,” they would say, “something as idiotic as this.” 

Now This feels tangible. This feels solid. This feels like you could reach out a hand and touch them. You like This. You reach up a hand to feel a grin climbing up your face and it’s entirely your own. Terrifying, but exhilarating. 

You leap up from Their bed in New Home and bolt for the door. You’re not sure how you got there. It doesn’t matter. A flood of DETERMINATION hits you like a tidal wave. You need to find Mother. 

You wonder what they look like. Before they looked like a feeling. They felt like they looked like a half of a whole. They felt like rosy cheeks and dimples and smiles that stretched tight and threatened to snap. 

Your feet move to their own accord, but it’s not your Partner helping you drive this time. It’s you, and for once that’s enough. 

Mother seems very surprised to see you when you come barreling into where she and the others are waiting. You immediately lunge for her dress and begin to tug. There’s no time to for handspeak, not when the buzzing beehive in your chest is growing. 

You follow the call of your Partner and they follow you, your ragtag group of monsters hot on your heels. You know you’re no match for Mother’s long strides but she does her best to keep up without tripping over you. You’re not sure what will happen when she sees your Partner, her child, the long lost First Fallen. For the briefest moment the thought is enough to set your hands shaking. Maybe you hadn’t thought this through.  

Asgore says something but you can’t make out what he’s saying over the drone in your ears. You can’t move fast enough.

Then, They’re  _ there _ . 

* * *

 

Once Upon a Time a child did everything in their power to make their new family happy. No matter what they did, they couldn’t free Them. They tried again and again and again and again, searching for the missing piece of the puzzle. 

Once Upon a Time someone decided it was their turn to give it a go. They tied the child up in string and made them dance until the Underground went Empty. 

 

It wasn’t a happy dance. 

* * *

 

You find them in the Judgement Hall, funnily enough. They’re turned away from you, head canted up to gaze at the light spilling through the high windows. They’re a silhouette awash in the balmy glow of the golden hall. They turn. For once, they aren’t smiling. Their vivid red eyes shine and glisten and you were right with the feeling that they were, they are all pale skin and rosy cheeks and dimples and teeth. But they aren’t smiling. 

Mother gasps behind you. Asgore’s armor clatters as he collapses to his knees. Your eyes burn as you launch yourself at them with your arms thrown wide-- 

You meet them for the second time in the Judgement Hall. The first time had been just after your fall. You had seen them standing there in the flowers, or  _ felt  _ them at least, head raised to gaze up at the light above. 

_ “Greetings,”  _ you had felt them say in your head, just like you hadn’t really seen them but  _ felt  _ them standing in the flowers that had cushioned your fall.  _ “It seems you have Fallen Down.”  _

Their arms don’t reach around you, so you squeeze them tight enough for the both of you. 

“Greetings, Frisk,” they whisper. 

The fire in your eyes trails down your cheeks as you hold them even tighter.  __

**_*Hello,_ ** your SOUL replies, something akin to  _ at long last.  _

* * *

 

Here’s a story that you can’t seem to remember. 

You remember you did everything in your power to see your Partner go free. You remember one day they turned away from you. They laughed an unsure laugh and rubbed their arms and them tight to their chest. They said all hope was lost for them. 

But they seemed unsure. And that was enough to give you hope. 

One day the lights went off and your limbs were tangled in string. You remember watching from the outside in. You remember you could only see red as you choked on dust. 

One day the lights came back on. They were There, you could feel them, huddled in the recesses of your mind. You coughed a dust came out in your bloodied hands. 

_ "What happened?”  _ you asked. 

They curled in tighter on themselves.  _ “Leave me be.”  _

_ "What happened?”  _ you repeated. 

_ “It is best if you forget who I am. It is best if you forget I exist.”  _

You cough out more dust into your scraped palms.  _ “Why would I do that?”  _

_ “I don’t deserve to exist. Not here. You’d be safer if I didn’t.”  _

You paused.  _ “What if you didn’t exist here?”  _

They hold their breath. 

_ “What if you existed somewhere else?”  _

Their stare hardens.  _ “Then get me out.”  _

__

Sometimes you forget how the story goes. 

 

 

Sometimes when you close your eyes you can remember. But when you open them, it’s gone. 

 

 

 

 

You cough up more dust into your palms. 

* * *

 

Reset after reset after reset after reset. Kind words after cold words after knives held high after crimson and dust and ashes and dust and dust and dust and  _ dust _ . You swallow the wail building in your throat. You swallow the anger and grief and longing and relief. Your body is wracked with sobs.

You don’t want to step aside, but you finally do. Mother is crying, Asgore is howling, and they descend upon Chara who stiffens under their touch. Their hardened exterior cracks as they begin to cry themselves, melting into the embrace of their parents. You have just slipped your hand into Papyrus’s when Mother waves you forward with a paw. 

Soon, you too melt into the trembling embrace of two grieving parents reunited with their long lost child. You squeeze Their hand. They squeeze back. 

You decide that it’s enough. 

**Author's Note:**

> wooooooooohhhhhoooooooooo I should not be writing another story but here I am 
> 
> so this one is ultimately going to be about chara and frisk working together to get asriel's soul back so everyone can finally live happily ever after yeehaw
> 
> let's go bois


End file.
